This invention relates to a reusable container for collecting and storing yard waste prior to its being picked up for recycling.
Yard waste, such as grass clippings, dead flowers, pruned branches, fallen leafs and the like have become a major disposal problem. As the landfills used for municipal waste become full, and available land for new landfills becomes scarce, many landfills refuse to accept yard waste. As a result, yard waste recycling centers where this material is reduced to a mulch have been established. While most of these centers require the material to be brought to the center, government agencies are now starting to establish curbside pickup for recyclable yard waste.
The containers which heretofore have been used for collecting and storing recyclable materials for curbside pickup do not work well for yard waste. First, they are designed for much heavier materials and thus are not nearly large enough for this use. In addition, they generally are made from a solid material and wet garden waste placed in them will mold while waiting pickup. Also, since most recyclable materials are collected continuously, the container is permanently in its open collection position rather than being collapsible for more compact storage. With yard waste, on the other hand, it is common to collect materials for a particular week's pickup at one time and, therefore, it is desirable that the container be collapsible to a more compact configuration for storage in between periods of use.
What is needed is a lightweight container made from a breathable material that is self-supporting in an upright orientation and yet is collapsible to a compact orientation for storing. Even though it must be collapsible and flexible enough for folding for compact storage, it must have a strong bottom which will not easily be worn out when the container is dragged on rough surfaces, such as concrete. In addition, it must be closeable for storage of the material when it has been filled, be easily moveable when in its upright position, and be easy to invert for dumping the stored material out of the container into a recycling truck. In addition, because of its light weight, it must include provisions for carrying weights to prevent it from being blown away when its contents are emptied into the recycling truck and it is left empty on the curbside. In addition, these weights must assist, or at least not detract, in its ability to be self supporting in an upright position and to be emptied when turned upside down.
While there are many prior art containers which provide some of these features, none would provide all of the features necessary to serve this particular purpose. Futerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,265; Marino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,517; Sandeman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,937; Burr, U.S. Pat. No. 860,183 and Converse, U.S. Pat. No. 733,542 all provide flexible fabric containers which are self-supporting. In addition, Burr and Converse both provide handles at their bottoms which would facilitate their being emptied into a recycling vehicle. However, because these containers have the flat bottom necessary to be self-supporting, they are not readily closed and none of them can be collapsed and folded for ease of storage.
The subject invention overcomes the short-comings inherent in the prior art flexible containers when they are used for collecting and storing yard waste for recycling by providing a hollow, open top shell having side walls and a perpendicular bottom which are formed from a unitary sheet of material. The bottom is planar and includes multiple layers of the material.
The container is formed from a hollow, cylindrical shell which has inwardly facing folds placed longitudinally in it at four spaced-apart locations. The resulting shell, then, is rectangular in cross-section with first and second pairs of opposed sides. Outwardly facing fold lines are then formed medially in the first pair of sides which allows the shell to be collapsed so that the second pair of sides are adjacent to one another with the folded first pair of sides sandwiched between them. The overlaying sides are then interconnected along the bottom edge of the shell. When the shell is opened, the lower margins of the sides fold inwardly to form a multi-layer flat bottom which allows the container to be self-supporting in an upright position and wear resistant.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, handles are located on the second pair of sides at the top and bottom of the bag to facilitate handling and opening of the container. In addition, pouches are placed on the bottom of the container next to the lower set of handles to receive weights to prevent the container from being blown away when empty. Since the weight pouches are on the bottom they help stabilize the container when it is in its upright position, further reinforce the bottom, and push the material out of the container when it is emptied.
The subject invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.